FILE NO. 256

MISSION LOG—CW2 RYAN MITCHELL, UNITED STATES ARMY

Location: Undisclosed location, near San Juan, Puerto Rico

—Where are you now, Mr. Mitchell?

—In Alyssa’s office. I broke in to get her sat phone and her keys. You have to help me, sir. Please! I have to get her out of there. Can you help me?

—I assume you are referring to Ms. Resnik. Is she in imminent danger?

—She’s in med bay one with Alyssa. She’s…They’re doing things to her, sir.

—Who is?

—Alyssa. She’s…Look, there’s no time to explain everything. I need to get her out of there now. Can you send in troops?

—There is already a platoon of Marines on-site, but they will not breach. They will not risk it without knowing what they are up against.

—I can tell you! Just tell them to breach! I’ll tell you everything they need to know. They need to hurry!

—Mr. Mitchell, the Marines are not there at my request, and they are not there to help you. They are there to arrest you, you and everyone in that base.

—Wh…I…I don’t care! Tell them to breach. Tell them to arrest us. We need to get to Kara now!

—I am wanted for treason. You, Ms. Resnik, Mr. Couture, we are all traitors in the eyes of the United States government.

—Then why not breach and arrest us all?

—I can only speculate, Mr. Mitchell, but if I were in charge, I would not risk the life of my men by walking into a possibly hostile environment with a single point of entry, especially when you have no way out.

—What are you saying, sir?

—I am saying that if you want the Marines to come in, you will need to open the door for them.

—I can do that.

—I was being facetious! There are over a dozen armed men protecting that base. Most of them are ex-military. They will not hesitate to shoot you.

—I’m telling you, sir. I can do it. I can secure the base.

—Do you have the key to the armory?

—I’m on my way there now…Sir?

—Yes, Mr. Mitchell.

—I know that if you had your way, I’d still be rotting at Fort Carson…I’m sorry, sir. I know it doesn’t mean anything, but I’m sorry for what I did. I just wanted to say it.

—…

—I’m at the armory. Looking for the key. This has gotta be it…

—Have you ever fired at anyone?

—Not with a gun, sir, but I’m not gonna kill anyone.

—You will not be able to simply disarm a dozen men on your own.

—Look sir, I got myself into this mess because I almost killed Vincent. I’m not gonna try and fix this by killing a bunch of people.

—Mr. Mitchell, listen to me…

—It’s OK, sir, I found what I was looking for. I remembered they keep XREP rounds to get rid of trespassers on the surface.

—I know very little about firearms. What is an XREP?

—They’re less-than-lethal bullets that deliver an electric shock. They’re mini-Tasers you can fire with a shotgun. Very expensive little things. Anyway, there must be more somewhere, but I found three boxes of these and two shotguns. I’ll just grab a few stun grenades and a lot of tie-wraps.

—Tie-wraps? Mr. Mitchell, I strongly urge you…

—You’re right, sir. I can’t do this alone.

—Where are you going?

—Living quarters, there should be no more than one guard at the door. I just hope I can do this quietly. I need to stop talking now.

—…Mr. Mitchell?

—…

—Are you there?

—I am. I tried to knock the guard out, but I caught him in the back of the neck. I had to hit him again. Now if I can just find the right key…Unless…Yes! Good man. He had it around his neck.

—The key to what?

—Now, this guy’s not gonna be happy to see me…

Hi! I need your hel…Don’t…Stop…Would you…Stop fighting!

I need your help! Kara’s in trouble! Kara’s in trouble and I need your help to get her out. You can either trust me and help me or go back to your room, but I’ll need to knock you out too if you keep making this much noise.

—Who are you talking to? Mr. Couture? Tell him I was unsuccessful. Tell him the cavalry is not coming.

—He says the cavalry isn’t coming…You know who. Him! Now can you shut the hell up for a minute? OK. Help me drag this guy in here. Now take this key and lock every door in this corridor. They lock from the outside. There are twelve more guards on base. If we’re lucky, a couple of them are still in their rooms…

—Is Mr. Couture unharmed?

—Yeah, he’s fine. Well, he seems fine to me. He’s a lot stronger than I remember him to be…Are you done?

—Are you talking to me?

—Now here’s what we’re gonna do. Take these and put them in your pocket. I know they’re tie-wraps. Take this gun…

No, I don’t want you to shoot anyone. I want you to give it to me when I run out of shells and reload the one I give you. This is a Mossberg 500. It holds five shells in the magazine tube. You put them in like this…There’s room for one more in the chamber here…

No, Vincent, we’re not gonna kill anyone. These are nonlethal bullets. Are you good? Can you do this? Good. Now load yours.

—Mr. Couture has received no military training. He may get you both captured or killed.

—He’ll be fine…No, Vincent, you’re doing great. One more…That’s it.

The machine shop is locked at this hour. Sea lock and the power plant are closed. That means all the guards should be at the entrance or in the main hallway. Look in the bag. These are stun grenades. When we get to the hallway, I’ll need you to grab two of these, remove the pin here, count to three, and throw them as far as you can away from us. That should disorient however many guards are there for a few seconds. Hopefully, that’ll be long enough for me to shoot them. Then you follow me in and you tie the guards’ hands together with tie-wrap…

No, that’s not it. I wish it were. Those grenades will make a lot of noise, the shotgun too. Whoever isn’t in that hallway, and the guards at the entrance, they’ll either wait for us or they’ll come for us. Whatever happens, we’ll have to improvise a bit. If you need to, you just shoot, then pump, then shoot, then pump—just like in the movies.

—Mr. Mitchell. I could not help but overhear your plan, or lack thereof. Are you sure you do not wish to reconsider your choice of weapon? Need I remind you that the guards you are so intent on keeping alive are using live ammunition?

—I’m well aware of that part. Vincent, are you ready for this? Cool! Just stay behind me…

We’re at the corner to the main hallway. I see two men talking along the wall, two more sitting at a table. No, make that three…Take the stun grenades out of the bag. Remember, count to three, then throw them away. Try to throw one as far right as you can. Oh, and don’t look. On my count, three…two…one…now!

…

One guard.

…

Two.

Vincent, come on!

Three!

Four!

…

Five. No! Come on, stop moving. Five!

OK, Vincent, tie them up…No, not like that, hands behind the back. Like that, don’t be afraid to pull. You want this to be tight!

Five guards down, plus one at Vincent’s door. There’s one guard with Alyssa in med bay; that leaves anywhere from zero to five guards at the main entrance. Vincent, give me your shotgun and reloa…Get down!…

—Mr. Mitchell, are you hit?

—There was a guard in the bathroom. He went back in when he heard me scream. Vincent, give me the gun and grab a grenade from the bag…Whenever you’re ready…Five, four, three…

Hi there! You probably can’t hear me, but my friend here’s gonna tie your hands behind your back. If you move, I’ll have to shoot you, so…don’t move. Tie him up, Vincent! Go! Go!…

We’re done here. That leaves the main entrance. Vincent, get a grenade from the bag. Let’s go!

Chances are they’ll start shooting at us as soon as I open this door. Get the grenade ready. And…here…goes…Vincent, don’t pull the pin! Shit, quick, throw it in the bathroom! Go! Go!

—What is happening, Mr. Mitchell? Talk to me.

—There are only two guards at the main entrance. They have their guns on the floor and their hands up in the air. I guess a few of them were still in their rooms. Hi, guys!…Yeah, I didn’t sign up for this either. Would you mind putting your hands behind your back so my friend here can restrain you? It’s only for a few minutes, then the Marines will storm in, and they’ll cuff you all over again. Vincent, hurry!

We’re a few steps from med bay. There should be one guard with Alyssa. Vincent, do you want to do the honors?…Just throw your grenade in there and disarm the guard…

Kara’s sedated and strapped on a table, I don’t think you can disorient her any more than she is…Here you go. Get in there!

I told you he’d be fine, sir. You should know the kid was smiling through most of it. I think he might have taken a little pride in improving his tie-wrap technique. I just hope he doesn’t figure out what was going on in there.

—Are you referring to the tissue samples Ms. Papantoniou was collecting?

—She’s not collecting tissue, sir. That’s why I called you. I swear, I had no idea what she was doing when I signed up. I just thought I could help.

—I believe you. Now tell me what you witnessed.

—Well, you know Alyssa’s been collecting samples from Kara and Vincent: blood, skin, bodily fluids. When I went to see her this morning, she had Kara in a…She didn’t have any pants on…I asked what was going on, and she told me she was removing eggs from Kara’s ovaries.

—Is that what prompted your rebellion?

—I wasn’t finished. She told me she’d attempt in vitro fertilization the next day. Could she do that, sir?

—My understanding of IVF is very limited, but I do not believe she has the necessary equipment. She does have access to cryogenic material, however. She could freeze the ova and semen samples from Mr. Couture. She would need to take them to a clinic outside the compound. The eggs and semen would then be thawed. Those that survive the process could be fertilized and left to develop for a few days. Most clinics will now perform what is known as blastocyst transfer.

—I don’t…

—A blastocyst is an embryo in which cell division has occurred enough times in the first few days. The embryos that have reached that stage can be transferred into a host after five days with a reasonable chance of success.

—You mean into another woman?

—That is correct.

—That’s insane!

—Indeed. Your decision to intervene was timely.

—I would never have agreed to help her if I’d known. You know that, sir. Don’t you?

—I do, and you have told me already.

—Vincent’s back with Kara…Hello, Sleeping Beauty! What do you mean she’s not there?

—Ms. Resnik is gone?

—No, Alyssa is…Are you sure you checked everywhere?…I know it’s a small room. Look, Kara can barely stand, why don’t you guys go sit over there?…

I don’t know what to say, sir. We’ve been pretty much everywhere. She was here twenty minutes ago. Unless she went in one of the guards’ room, we should have run into her. It’s not like she can get out.

—Perhaps she can. She did supervise the construction of that complex.

—I gotta look for her.

—Let the Marines do it. Ms. Resnik may need immediate medical attention. You should let the Marines in now.

—I will in a minute. I gotta tell them about what Alyssa’s doing.

—You will do no such thing. Both of them have been through enough already. You will not add to their ordeal by telling them about a situation they can do nothing about.

—Sir! They could have a child a year from now and not know about it.

—They could have a dozen. You will say nothing to them, Mr. Mitchell. Do you understand?

—Sir! They have a right to know.

—They do. I will tell them when the time comes.

—Do I have your word on that?

—You do. Now open the door and let the Marines in.

—OK. I’m getting on the elevator now. What’ll happen to us when they come in?

—They will cuff you. They will most likely separate you until you all have been debriefed. I suspect it will be a…thorough debriefing. After that, I do not know. At best, you will go back to Fort Carson to finish your sentence. At worst, we will all receive a lethal injection.

—What should I tell them?

—Unfortunately, there is very little the United States government does not know at this point. What you say, or do not say, will be of no consequence. Make this easy on yourself and tell them what they want to hear.

—OK. Thank you, sir, for everything. I’ve unlocked the main door. Here goes nothing…

Hi, guys! Welcome to Puerto Rico! OUCH! Come on! I just secured the whole place for you, shithead! Does it have to be so tight?! Come on, man! That hurts!…